Top 25 Mark Bonnar Quotes

My dad went to art school when I was one. They scraped and continued scraping, because artists, as we all know, don’t earn a lot of money. It’s a precarious existence and my mum didn’t work, so dad sold paintings.

Success is something that other people always point out. I don’t think one ever thinks of oneself as successful, because if you do, you’re going to immediately lose whatever it is that’s driving you, aren’t you?

I mean sex can be funny for heaven‘s sake.

I tried many different things before becoming an actor, so this is my plan B.

I do a good cold, hard stare.

Some of the best jokes are about funerals or people dying or whatever. Laughter and tears are two sides of the same coin.

I started writing my own symphony. I wrote about a page and a half. My mum and dad took it into music class and gave it, pleased as punch, to the teacher, Miss Montgomery. She played it on the piano for them. So I think they’re the only ones that ever heard it.

And something like ‘Unforgotten’ is impressive with the myriad threads of people’s lives so brilliantly woven together.

I take each job on its merits. If a job’s good, and it’s worth doing for the reasons you want to do it, then I make that decision at the time.

I tend to keep my love of heavy metal under the radar.

Crime makes for great drama and it’s interesting because it delves into the darker side of us. Those kind of stories go way back, the detective and the criminal.

I don’t usually turn down work, it usually involves a very big debate with agents and family and your conscience and your sense of panic. But it is the only power we have, as actors – to say no.

I spent the first 10 years of my career playing psychotic Scotsman. I’m still playing psychotic Scotsmen really, they’ve just become a bit funnier.

London and the surrounds are a great place to be. It is a great part of the world.

I always considered myself working class, because I was brought up on a council estate. I still do, really. I mean, I might have a bit more money now than I did then, but it’s in your head, class, I think. It’s how you feel in there.

Actors are used to staring at the walls waiting for the phone to ring. It’s not unchartered territory for us.

Certainly with stage, as I’m remembering, you don’t get to spend any time at home. With film, you might do three, four days a week, and they might not be full days. So that aspect of it was a consideration. But I also just wanted to try different kinds of working.

I did a bungee jump in New Zealand even though I’m afraid of heights – it’s good to step outside your comfort zone.

Work breeds a bit of work sometimes. If you’re in the right place at the right time, that can lead to other things.

I sold burglar alarms for four weeks, which wasn’t very long, but it was long enough.

In history we studied the bog man. Do you remember the bog man? I was absolutely fascinated by this. When something brings the past into sharp focus as a child it creates an indelible impression.

I had a cat called Pushkin when I was growing up.

According to a lot of people I am in everything and they’re sick of the sight of me.

There’s nothing quite like being able to get into the minds of other people, and figure out how they work, and what makes other people tick. And going against your own grain sometimes, to push yourself into places you wouldn’t go emotionally.

Every actor knows what unemployment is like, and knows what long periods of unemployment are like, unless you’re spectacularly lucky.